


Float

by TheNeonFennec



Category: Original Work
Genre: Future, Gen, Monsters, Science Fiction, Short Story, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 16:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18578200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNeonFennec/pseuds/TheNeonFennec
Summary: Neil, a troublemaking teen boy, will do anything to make his best friend Tara’s life less miserable. But they say there’s no cure for what the creatures of the wasteland have done to her, and Neil finds himself in more trouble than he thought after he makes a leap of faith… And doesn’t fall.Only a short story for now, possibly the start of something longer.





	Float

_Public Service Announcement: We regret to inform that the interdimensional-monster (Intermon) watch is still in effect. Please follow all posted guidelines to avoid encounters. Remember: we are unsure what exactly it is they do to people. The scientists are still working on it, keep your pants on. We request that citizens refrain from sending any more death threats to the Capitol._

_Yes, we know how long this has been happening. Happy five year anniversary._

_-Theran National Board of Safety_

 

_Local alert: A break-in occurred at 02:00 hours this morning at the West Helix Tower Research Facility during a “sensitive experiment relating to new anti-Intermon technology”. The culprit escaped with two pieces of confidential experimental technology. Though a search led by enforcers is already underway, there is a reward of 1,000 credits for any civilian with information on the thief. They are described as a lean teenager with uniquely styled brown hair. Thank you for your attention._

_\- Rockcliffe Board of Safety_

 

He shut off the radio.   
Tara took off the helmet and looked at Neil.   
“Wait, you said you didn’t steal this stuff.”

Neil, her lanky, wild-haired highschool buddy, shrugged indifferently. “I lied.”

“Why did you go through all the trouble of robbing a _government facility_ for… Whatever these are?” She gestured to the belt around her waist and the helmet still in her hands. They continued to be fairly unimpressive.

“Well, for you!” Standing up, he began a walking ramble around his bedroom. “I want us to be able to hang out again. Like before. It’s all my fault this happened to you anyway.”

“Oh,” she rolled her eyes, “not _this_ guilt trip again!”

“It’s true! If I hadn’t dared you to poke that _stupid_ Intermon years back—”

“Dude, we were _nine_. Nine year olds are dumb!”

“Yeah, I know! But whatever touching that thing did you you, it’s only gotten worse. How long do you stop existing for now? A full minute every time, right? And how many times a day? Look, I know you aren’t in any pain or anything when it happens, but it hurts _me!_ ” He took a deep breath in. “That sounded really selfish, didn’t it?”

Tara twirled her hair between her fingers, weaving the black strands around and around like she was trying to wind it into spools. “I thought you said that when I stop existing, your memories of me go away too. How can that hurt?”

“It’s the after part, when you come back. That hurts.”

The two stood in an awful silence. A silence most unnatural for a teenager that age.

“Ok, this is getting too deep,” she banished the quiet, a true hero. “So, what are the gadgets gonna do about it?”

“Oh! So, they’re supposed to deploy some sort of shield, right? I thought if I could find a frequency that keeps you in this reality, then I could—”

The doorbell rang, bright and cheery despite being the last thing Neil wanted to hear. With held breath, he listened closely to the muffled conversation his dad was having at the front door. He hoped with all his might that it was just the mailman.

“Neil!” His dad called back towards his room, “There’s some nice men from the government who would like to meet you!”  
Neil and Tara looked at each other with wide eyes.

_Danger?_ One pair of eyes said.

_Out the window we go_ _,_ responded the other.

 

The sun may have been setting, but the heat of the day still radiated off of the stone roads of Rockcliffe. The dust, just beginning to rest as the commuters settled in for an early curfew, was rudely disturbed by a speeding motorized bicycle. On it, Neil clung to the handlebars for dear life. Tara held on just as strong around his waist. The bike ripped down the road, weaving from street to street. Block to block. Neil glanced behind him, only to be greeted by two black cars close behind. The hover pads on the government vehicles somehow managed to disturb more of the Rockcliffe dust population.

“Crap,” he whispered. Perhaps he was in _a bit_ more trouble than he previously thought. All for a couple of gadgets those Helix guys were about to toss into the bin anyway.

A bullet hit the stone near his front tire. This made Neil suddenly _very_ aware of how much trouble he was in.

“Crap crap _crap_ … Why are they so mad?” He heard a bullet hit his bikes frame. “ _Why_ do they want me _dead_?!”

_Quick plan,_ he said to himself internally, _head for the cliff. Toss yourself off the bike and into the bushes, let the bike fall into the wastes. The Intermon can have it for all you care. Stay in the bush and try not to cry about the scrapes and bruises until the enforcers are gone._

_Oh jeez,_ he thought. _I’m faking my own death! Cool!_

After another missed shot aimed in his direction, Neil set the plan into motion. A quick left brought the cliff into view, framed by the walls of an overgrown alley. He braced himself, ready to leap and roll when—

 

Tara existed again.

“CLIFF!” She had enough time to scream.

“YEP,” He had enough time to scream back as he twisted around to shove her off the bike, hoping she was still wearing the shield belt. He would have liked to watch her fall in order to make sure, but he was a bit busy falling off a cliff.

He didn’t want to think about falling to his death, but maybe that was better though? Better than what the Intermon below might do to him. So he shut his eyes tight and waited for the end.

 

…It came to Neil’s attention that he was not yet dead. Curiosity getting the better of him, he opened his eyes. Intermon gathered around his shattered bike hundreds of feet below. They looked up and him, chattering, craning their gangly, not-deer bodies upward and staring with those empty skeletal faces. He shivered. However, this ghastly sight was quickly overshadowed by a new realization.

 

Gravity had seemed to stop working. He wasn’t flying, no, but he wasn’t falling either. Instead, he floated. Looking behind him, he saw that he had fallen a few feet below the main cliff edge and then just… stopped. He hovered, suspended hundreds of feet in the air over a bunch of interdimensional monsters. Whatever it was he was doing to stop from falling, he really didn’t want to stop.

Huh.

He also saw Tara climbing down to a ledge closer to his level. She looked terrified, eyes locked on him.

“Neil!” she called over the wind. “How are you doing that!?”

“I don’t know! Have they gone yet?”

“Yes! Now, fly back here or—”

“I’m not flying, I just—”

“Take my hand!”

She offered it, he took it, and with a bit of a pull, they were both safely planted on the ground. It was a curious feeling as his own personal gravity switched itself back on. It was also very uncomfortable, and not helped by his pounding heart and aching lungs.

“I think I know why they’re after _you_ and not the belt, Neil.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I always welcome feedback. Maybe with enough, I'll turn this into a longer story.


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